MinD - Designing for People with Dementia

WP5 Year 1: mindful design framework

WP5 – Semi-annual update – February 2017

The work on the design work packages WP4 (personal design) and 5 (design for the environment) began in September 2016. To begin with, the team on both work packages have worked closely together, as well as with WP 2 (mindful framework) and WP3 (dementia care/data collection) to provide support for the data collection through the development of supportive materials, and to establish the mindful design framework.

During secondments in the UK, Luxemburg, Germany, The Netherlands, and Barcelona, a rich number of presentations and events were scheduled to understand mutual expertise, introduce colleagues from dementia care into design thinking and practice, and discuss the nature and role of the design framework and interventions to be developed. For example, the secondment in The Netherlands brought the healthcare and design strands of the project together through a “brainstorming day” at Panton Design about what kind of tools/actions might be developed in the context of MinD. Four main aspects related with dementia were investigated: a) the delivery of diagnosis, b) the changing relationships, c) the acceptance by oneself and by others, and d) the familiar world of people with dementia and their relatives.

Development of work on WPs 4 and 5 so far include:

The development of design materials in support of the data collection in form of visual cards and visual diaries to provide a holistic and design based approach to the data collection. The visual cards were used in support of the focus group and individual interviews with people with dementia as prompts and memory aids when talking about every day, leisure and social activities. The visual diaries were developed to complement the formal interviews, to be completed at home with more time and reflection, to understand better participants’ wishes and values, difficulties and challenges in everyday life, etc.

A review of existing design products and services available to support people with dementia and their usefulness with regard to personal well-being, self-empowerment and meaningful social engagement.

Development of MinD design framework and tools:

Development of a framework for mindful scenario and task analysis to interrogate the results from the data collection with regard to opportunities for mindful design interventions related to improving people’s subjective wellbeing, self-empowerment and meaningful social engagement.

Design development methods, including ideation and brainstorming with regard to developing tangible design solutions in response to the identified scenarios.

Design guidelines for designing with and for people with dementia in collaboration with the PPI groups.

WP4 and 5, each have started on developing the application of the mindful framework in the respective areas relating to supporting people with dementia personally, as individuals (WP4), and with regard to developing suggestions for a more supportive environment (WP5).

In addition, there has been some work on improving project communication through designing a more audience friendly ‘project map’ to communicate more easily and clearly the shape and progress.